Popular Penguins

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In 1935, a man called Allen Lane got sick of having nothing good to read at train stations in the UK. Until then, books had fallen into two camps: either prohibitively expensive, or really cheap (and poorly written).

Lane's brainchild was to publish cheap paperbacks, called Penguin, and they were a roaring success. Back in the day, they were colour-coded: green was for crime, orange for fiction and blue for biography, and they cost sixpence each.

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Today, Penguin has re-released some of the most popular titles and they're on sale for AUD$10 each, which is pretty exciting. It's less than the cost of a movie ticket, or lunch out, which is exactly the way I like my books - reasonably priced and easily, guiltlessly obtainable.

This reminds me of the excellent Pocket Penguins (rainbow colour-coded, no less!) which were relased on the 70 year anniversary of their release.

Of course, you can also buy the complete set of 1,082 books for just under a cool US$8000, if you're in the mood.

As a mini-celebration, I have made some Penguin-themed badges, to get you in the mood! They're in the shop now.